3.1 is coming closer and we can all feel it's breath. Blizard has announced several things already such as Ulduar and the much anticipated Dual-spec feature. Some of which can be found back in this list, but still. It's unofficial, it might be fake, it might be leaked. Nobody can say 100% for certain, but it's still an interesting read. And even if it's "real" the list is by no means final.

The list is huge but has interesting bits for everyone. As I don't see these on MMOC or WoR yet, I guess I'll just copy and paste the whole thing from our guild forum.

For many years, the ancient titan city of Ulduar has been a home to the Storm Giants of Northrend, where they have remained hidden from the Lich King and his Scourge Army. Recently, Ulduar has been taken over by the Iron Dwarves, who are being lead by a mysterious entity that is becoming a growing threat to Northrend and the rest of Azeroth.

Brann Bronzebeard and the Explorer’s League have setup a new camp in The Storm Peaks in order to serve as a base of operations for the Ulduar investigations. Chester Copperpot and his goons, longtime enemies of the Explorer’s League, also have a vested interest in Ulduar.

The Ruby Sanctum

For thousands of years, the Chamber of Aspects was used as a secret meeting place for the five great Dragon Aspects. Since the formation of the Wyrmrest Accord and the war on Malygos, the portals leading to the dragonflight sanctuaries remained dormant…until now. Trouble has arisen within the Red Dragonflight’s Ruby Sanctum! Queen Alexstrasza and the Red Dragonflight are seeking able bodied adventurers to find out what lies within.

General

• Ulduar is now available in both Heroic and Normal Difficulty, players can find this raid dungeon in The Storm Peaks.• The Ruby Sanctum is now available in both Heroic and Normal Difficulty, players can find this raid dungeon in the Dragonblight, beneath Wyrmrest Temple in the Chamber of Aspects.• The Nexus War Continues! The Blue Dragonflight is attempting to harness the energy surrounding Crystalsong Forest. The Silver Covenant and The Sunreavers are preparing for a full offensive, but they need your help! Many new daily quests are available at Windrunner’s Overlook (Alliance) and Sunreaver’s Command (Horde).• Dual Talent Specialization: Players can now visit their class trainers to learn a second Specialization. Specializations may be switched at any time as long as the player is not in combat, this will also change your character’s Glyphs, Action Bars and Talents. Specialization options can be found in the talent menu.• Potency Rating: Haste Rating, Armor Penetration Rating and Spell Penetration have been merged into a single stat. Each percent of Potency will decrease the enemy’s spell resistances and armor; it will also increase the player’s cast speed and melee attack speed.• Replenishment: Now grants 0.5% of base mana every second and can effect up to 25 raid members.• A new bank slot is now available for purchase!

Achievements

• Removed “Brew of the Year” as criteria for the “Brewmaster” meta achievement.• The number of cooking recipes needed for the “Chef De Cuisine” achievement has been lowered to 150.• Several Dungeon & Raid Achievements related to The Ruby Sanctum and Ulduar have been added!• Several World Event Achievements related to Noble Garden have been added!

PvP

• Battlegroundso Players may now accumulate up to 100,000 Honor Points and 7500 Arena Points.o Players can now queue up for Battlegrounds anywhere in the world! New queuing options are available in the PvP menu.o Players can now queue up for all 5 battlegrounds at once.o Reputation gains from winning battles in Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin have been significantly increased.o Alterac Valley Marks of Honor, Warsong Gulch Marks of Honor and Arathi Basin Marks of Honor may now be exchanged for reputation gains with their associated factions. o Lake Wintergrasp- The Battle for Lake Wintergrasp will now occur every 2 hours.- After winning a Wintergrasp Match all players of the opposite faction will be teleported to their respective faction’s camp.- Many optimizations have been made to the Lake Wintergrasp zone, players should experience significantly less visual latency when fighting in densely populated areas.o Strand of the Ancients- Players carrying Seaforium charges cannot exceed 100% run speed.- Seaforium charges now take more time to disarm.- Turrets now deal slightly more damage to vehicles.- The honor gained while fighting in the Strand of the Ancients has been slightly increased.

Death Knights

• Icebound Fortitude now scales much better with defense (50% at 540 defense).• Shadow of Death: Cooldown reduced to 10 minutes.• Death Grip: Cooldown reduced by 10 seconds.• New Spell: Unholy Grip, 20 Runic Power, 3 min cooldown – Harnesses the unholy energy that surrounds and binds all matter, drawling all targets within a 30 yard radius towards the death knight and forcing all enemies to attack the death knight for 6 sec.• Unholy Command: Reduces the cooldown of your Unholy Grip ability by 15/30 seconds.• Magic Suppression: Also causes your Anti-Magic Shell to restore runic power equal to 3%/6%/9%/12%/15% of the damage absorbed.• Obliterate: No longer consumes diseases.• Merciless Combat: All abilities now deal 10%/20% additional damage to targets below 35% health.• Annihilation: Increases critical strike chance of all weapons, spells and abilities by 1%/2%/3% and reduces the amount of spell damage taken when in frost presence by an additional 1%/2%/3%.• Heart Strike: Can now hit up to 4 targets.• Will of the Necropolis: Now reduces damage that would take you below 35% health by 10%/20%/30%.• Bloody Vengeance: This effect now stacks up to 5 times.• Desecration: Damage bonus now applies to other death knights.• Virulence: Now grants both melee and spell hit.• Unholy Blight is once again considered a disease.

Druids

• Shapeshifting no longer costs mana, but there is now a 3 second cooldown.• Wild Growth: Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds.• Entangling Roots: No longer deals damage.• Swipe: This ability has been reworked; it will now hit all targets within a 5 yard radius of the druid. Damage dealt by Swipe has also been slightly increased.• Infected Wounds: Swipe can now trigger this ability.• Berserk: Also reduces the rage cost of all your Bear Form abilities by 50%.• Master Shapeshifter: Bear Form – Reduces all damage taken by 2%.• Improved Regrowth: Critical strike chance reduced to 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%.• Living Spirit: Also reduces the chance that all of your heal over time abilities will be dispelled by 5%/10%/15%.• Empowered Touch: Healing bonus increased to 25%/50%.• Gift of the Earthmother: Also reduces the cooldown of your Nature’s Swiftness by 6/12/18/24/30 seconds.• Improved Faerie Fire: Now grants melee and spell hit.• Lunar Guidance: Spell power bonus increased to 5%/10%/15%.• Force of Nature: Treants summoned by this spell are now immune to area of effect spells. They may now also cast Moonfire and Rejuvenation.• Owlkin Frenzy: Your attacks now have a chance to trigger frenzy.

• Conjure Mana Gem (Rank 6) now restores 4200 to 4400 mana. • Torment of the Weak: Damage bonus reduced to 3%/7%/10%.• Student of the Mind: The amount of Spirit granted has been increased to 5%/10%/15%.• Netherwind Presence: Spell haste bonus reduced to 1%/2%/3%. Also reduces the mana cost of all Arcane spells by 4%/7%/10%.• Spellsteal: The maximum duration of stolen buffs increased to 3 minutes.• Molten Fury: Damage bonus increased to 10%/20%.• Combustion now increases the critical strike chance of all fire spells by 25%. Lasts 20 sec.• Burnout: Removed penalty on spell critical strikes.• Ignite: Now deals its damage over 6 seconds.• Living Bomb: Will now explode upon the target’s death.• Fiery Payback: Damage reduction increased to 12%/25%.• Shatter: Critical strike chance increased to 20%/40%/60%.• Improved Frostbolt: Also reduces the global cooldown of your Ice Lance spell by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.• Cone of Cold: Damage for all ranks increased significantly.• Improved Cone of Cold: Increases the radius of your Cone of Cold ability by 5/10 yards.• Frozen Core: Spell damage reduction now requires Frost Armor to be active. Also increases all frost damage dealt by 1%/2%/3%.• Brain Freeze: Can now trigger a free Fireball of Pyroblast.• Empowered Frostbolt: Critical strike chance increased to 3%/6%.• Deep Freeze: Can now be used on targets with a movement slowing effect.

Paladins

• All paladin auras are now off the global cooldown.• Divine Plea: Now scales with spell haste, cooldown increased to 2 minutes, healing penalty removed.• Enlightened Judgements: Chance to hit increased by 3%/6%.• Holy Shock: Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds.• Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom, Judgement of Justice: Duration increased to 30 seconds.• Infusion of Light: Also has a 10%/20% chance to finish the cooldown of your Holy Shock spell.• Healing Light: Also increases the amount healed by your Judgement of Light.• Beacon of Light: Will now transfer 100% of all healing done to the beacon, instead of just effective healing.• Judgements of the Wise: Now grants 30% of base mana if the Judgement crits.• Crusader Strike: Now Instantly causes 125% weapon damage as holy damage and increases all holy damage done to the target by 2% for 6 seconds, stacks up to 5 times.• Exorcism can now be cast on any target.• Righteous Vengeance: Now triggered by Seal of Command, Seal of the Martyr and Seal of Blood critical strikes.• Sheath of Light: Heal over time effect reduced to 8 seconds.• Hammer of the Righteous: Gains a small benefit from your attack power.• Holy Shield: Whenever Holy Shield is active, all spell damage taken is reduced by 2%.• Divine Guardian has been moved down to Tier 3.• New Talent: Improved Divine Guardian – Increases the damage absorbed by Divine Guardian by 10%/20%.

Priests

• Surge of Light: Also reduces the cast time of your next Greater Heal by 0.5 seconds.• Circle of Healing: Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds.• Divine Providence: No longer reduces the cooldown of your Prayer of Mending Spell, but now increases the amount healed by your critical heals by 10%/20%/30%/40%/50%.• Mass Dispel: No longer has a target limit.• Misery: Now grants melee and spell hit.• Renew: Mana cost reduced slightly.• Greater Heal: Mana cost reduced slightly, cast time reduced by to 2.5 seconds.• Divine Fury: No longer reduces the cast time of Greater Heal, but increases the critical strike chance of Greater Heal, Penance and Flash Heal by 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%.• Test of Faith: Also increases the duration of your Guardian Spirit spell by 1/2/3 seconds.• Desperate Prayer: Instantly restores 30% of the caster’s health and reduces all damage taken by 30% for the next 5 seconds.• Divine Aegis: The absorption effect can now stack up to 3 times. • Penance: Channeling this spell will give the priest 3% additional chance to crit for the next 5 seconds.• Reflective Shield: Also decreases the chance that your Power Word: Shield can be dispelled by 15%/30%/45%.• Mental Strength: Also increases armor contribution from items by 5%/10%/15%.• Mind Melt: Critical strike chance increased by 3%/6%.• Blackout: Mind Sear can no longer proc this stun effect.• Twisted Faith: Damage bonus for Mind Flay and Mind Blast now requires the target to be afflicted by Vampiric Touch.• Improved Shadow Word: Pain: Now increases damage by 5%/10%.

Rogues

• Adrenaline Rush is now available to all Rogues at Level 30.• New Talent: Focused Combat, 25 Energy, 3 min cooldown – When activated, the rogue goes into a focused state of combat, increasing all damage done by 30%, changing targets will cancel this effect. Lasts 15 sec.• Envenom: Damage for all ranks increased slightly.• Expose Armor: Now reduces the enemy’s armor by a percent value instead of a flat value.• Improved Expose Armor: No longer reduces the energy cost of Expose Armor. Now increases the armor reduced by 2%/4%.• Tricks of the Trade: Duration reduced to 5 seconds.• Prey on the Weak: Critical strike damage now increased by 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%.• Close Quarters Combat: Increases your chance to get a critical strike with all weapons.• Kick: Damage dealt significantly increased.• Throwing Specialization: Also increases damage dealt by Fan of Knives by 15%/30%.• Surprise Attacks: Damage bonus increased to 15%.• Savage Combat: Now increases attack power by 4%/8%.• Fan of Knives: Now causes 75% weapon damage with all weapons.• Killing Spree: All damage dealt while this ability is active is increased by 20%.

Shaman

• The health of all totems has been increased significantly.• A new quest is available from all Shaman trainers at level 70!• Mana Spring Totem now affects all raid and party members, but no longer stacks.• Ancestral Knowledge: Increases total Intellect by 3%/6%/9%/12%/15%.• Shamanistic Focus: Mana cost reduction increased to 50%.• Maelstrom Weapon: Cast time reduction now applies to any spell with a cast time.• Searing Totem: Now receives a small bonus from the shaman’s total attack power.• Mental Dexterity: Also increases critical strike chance of all shock spells by 2%/4%/6%.• Weapon Mastery: Damage increase reduced to 2%/4%/6%.• Healing Wave: Base cast time reduced to 2.5 seconds.• Unleashed Rage: Also reduces the mana cost of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Lava Burst abilities by 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%.• Feral Sprit: The health of the Spirit Wolves summoned by this ability has been increased slightly.• Improved Healing Wave: Now increases Healing Wave’s chance to critically strike by 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%.• Lava Lash: Now deals 125% off-hand weapon damage, damage is no longer affected by Flametounge.• Healing Way: Bonus healing effect reduced to 15%, now effects all shaman healing spells.• Improved Earth Shield: Your Earth Shield can no longer be dispelled.• Ancestral Awakening: Range increased to 100 yards.• Riptide: Heal over time component gains a larger benefit from your spell power.• Earthliving Weapon: Heal over time component gains a larger benefit from your spell power.• Lesser Healing Wave: Mana cost reduced slightly.

Warlocks

• Everlasting Affliction: Drain Life, Haunt and Shadow Bolt spells now have a 5%/10%/15%/20%/25% chance to refresh the duration of Corruption and Siphon Life spells on the target.• Chaos Bolt: Cooldown reduced to 8 seconds, base damage increased slightly. Also pierces through immunity effects such as Divine Shield and Ice Block.• Pandemic: Now takes into account critical strike debuffs on the target.• Fire and Brimstone: Immolate spell power bonus now increased by 4%/8%/12%/16%/20%.• Molten Core: Shadow spells and damage over time effects now have a 10%/20%/30% chance to increase damage done by all Shadow and Fire spells by 10% for 10 sec.• Pyroclasm: Also gives your Rain of Fire a 5%/10% additional chance to crit.• Shadowflame: Initial effect now deals fire damage, the damage over time component now deals shadow damage.• Haunt will now do additional damage for each of the warlock’s damage over time effects on the target.• Improved Demonic Tactics: Increases your summoned demon’s critical strike chance by 2%/4%/6%.• Fel Vitality: Increases maximum stamina and intellect instead of health and mana.• Demonic Embrace: Stamina bonus reduced to 1%/2%/3%/4%.• Demonic Resilience: Reduces all damage taken by you and your pet by 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%.• Metamorphosis now has a 1 second cast time.• Demonic Pact: The spell power of all party and raid members is now increased by 4%/8%/12%/16%/20% of your spell damage.• Pandemic: Now works with Siphon Life.• Conflagrate: Can now be cast on targets afflicted by Shadowfury.• Searing Pain: No longer causes a high amount of threat. Damage increased for all ranks.• Improved Searing Pain: Your damaging Searing Pain spells have a 33%/66%/100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against that target by 2% and lasts 30 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

• Alchemyo Slightly reduced the materials required to make Flask of the Frost Wyrm, Flask of Stoneblood, Flask of Endless Rage and Flask of Pure Mojo.o Runic Mana Potions now only require one Lichbloom to make.o Runic Healing Potions now only require one Icethorn to make.o The Alchemists of The Sunreavers and The Silver Covenant have created a new, more powerful Alchemist Stone.o New Alchemy Daily Quests! Visit Alchemist Fendril at Windrunner’s Overlook and Alchemist Duros at Sunreaver’s Command.• Inscriptiono Several new epic Inscription recipes are available from the Explorer’s League Quartermaster and from within Ulduar.o Glyph of Improved Scorch: Gives your Fireball and Frostfire Bolt spells a 20% chance to refresh the duration of your Improved Scorch effect.o Glyph of Holy Light: Range increased to 10 yards.o Glyph of Crusdader Strike: Your Crusader Strike ability now generates 3 applications of the Crusader Strike effect.o Glyph of Searing Pain: The Improved Searing Pain talent now generates 3 applications of the Improved Searing Pain effect each time Searing Pain is cast.o New Glyphs may be discovered by performing Minor Inscription Research and Northrend Inscription Research.o Added Glyph of Holy Shock, Glyph of Greater Heal, Glyph of Chaos Bolt and Glyph of Incinerate have been added to all Grand Master Inscription Trainers.o Milling now only requires 4 herbs.• Enchantingo Powerful new ring enchants can be obtained from within Ulduar.o Enchanters may now use materials placed in the trade window to enchant other player’s equipment.o Added a new recipe to create spheres that grant spell resistance and fit in any color gem socket.o Enchant Weapon – Executioner: Now grants Potency rating.o Enchant Cloak – Speed: Renamed Enchant Cloak – Potency, now grants potency rating.o Enchant Cloak – Greater Speed: Renamed Enchant Cloak – Greater Potency, now grants potency rating.o Disenchanting high level epic items may now have a chance to yield an additional Abyss Crystal.• Engineeringo Mekgineer’s Chopper and Mechano Hog no longer require an Elementium-plated Exhaust Pipe to create.o Plans for a new and improved Scrapbot are rumored to be kept hidden by the Iron Dwarves in The Storm Peaks.o Several new epic belt patterns have been added to all Grand Master Engineering Trainers.o Hyperspeed Accelerators now stack with other enchants, duration increased to 15 seconds.• Blacksmithingo Several new epic blacksmithing plans have been added to the game, these may be found on various reputation vendors throughout Northrend.• Miningo Saronite Deposits will now yield more ore.o Saronite Deposits can now contain blue quality gems.• Herbalismo The drop rate on Frost Lotus has been slightly increased.o Reduced cast time on the Herbalism skill.• Cookingo All cooking daily quests will now give the player a choice of 5 Northern Spices or 5 Baby Spices in addition to a Dalaran Cooking Award.o A new recipe for Pygmy Delight has been added to all Grand Master Cooking Trainers.o Many cooking recipes requiring northern spices have had their materials reduced slightly. • Jewelcraftingo A new set of more powerful gems can be found by raiding Ulduar. Their stats exceed those of previous gems that could be found.o Icy Prisms now also have a small chance to contain an epic quality Northrend gem.o Icy Prisms no longer require a frozen orb, but now require more uncommon quality Northrend gems.o The Explorer’s League has unlocked the secret behind many ancient titan gems. Visit Archaeologist Mezton at the Explorer’s League Base Camp to see what you can learn!o Prospecting now only requires 4 ore.

Dungeons and Raids

• Many creatures in heroic 5 man dungeons have had their hit points increased slightly.• Players will no longer be teleported out of a raid instance after logging back in.• The Eye of Eternityo The damage on Malygos’ Vortex has been slightly reduced in both heroic and normal difficulty.o Players will no longer suffer fall damage when falling from Vortex.o Pets are no longer affected by Malygos’ Arcane Breath.• The Obsidian Sanctumo Reduced the effect of Twilight Torment in normal difficulty.o The duration of Twilight Residue has been increased.

User Interface

• Raid Unit frames have been redesigned and are now completely customizable via interface options.• Player Unit frames have also been redesigned and are customizable via the interface options.• Many parts of the default UI can now be moved to any location on your screen.• The Auction House UI has been changed, players will now see up to 200 auctions per page, more detailed information such as purchase history and average price has been added.• When zoning into a partially completed raid instance, a confirmation dialogue will appear asking if you want to get saved to the instance.• The built in threat meter has been expanded upon, it will now show the threat of up to 10 other players in relation to yours.• There is now an option to display your bank and character inventory as one large bag.• Players can now track multiple types of resources provided they have the skills required.• New tips of the day have been added!• Several new types of currencies have been added to the currency tab.• Players can now turn in Netherweave Cloth and Frostweave Cloth to increase their standing with all major cities.• New interface options have been added that will allow you to customize combat log recording.• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

Items

• All items that granted haste, armor penetration, or spell penetration have been updated to grant potency rating instead.• New vendors have been added to The Silver Enclave and Sunreaver’s Sanctuary, bring them your Emblems of Honor to trade for items of magnificent quality!• You may now trade 10 Emblems of Heroism for 1 Emblem of Valor, see your faction’s Emblem of Heroism vendor!• Several epic quality items obtained from Heroic instances have had their stats updated to reflect their intended power.• Damnation: Stats updated to reflect its intended power.• Greatstaff of the Nexus: Stats updated to reflect its intended power.• Dying Curse: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.• Soul of the Dead: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.• Forge Ember: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.• Sundial of the Exiled: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.• Forethought Talisman: Passive spell power reduced, healing over time effect now gains a small benefit from the caster’s spell power.• Frostweave Bag is now a 22 slot bag.• Glacial Bag is now a 24 slot bag.• Dragon Hide Bag is now a 24 slot bag, no longer considered unique.

World Environment

• Named NPC’s will now respawn at a much quicker rate.• All beasts in Northrend now have an increased chance to drop Chilled Meat.• The items involved in Troll Patrol: The Alchemist’s Apprentice can now be instantly looted.• Corrected several herb spawns in Icecrown.• Herb spawns in Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord will now respawn faster.• NPC’s in The Storm Peaks now have a higher chance to drop a Relic of Ulduar.• Players wishing to increase their standing with the Steamwheadle Cartel should visit Gazlowe in Ratchet.• Southsea Pirates, Wastewander Bandits and Bloodsail Buccaneers will all now give increased reputation gains.• Creatures in The Barrens now have an increased chance to drop the recipe for Savory Deviate Delights.

Bug Fixes

• Death Knight: The Lichborne ability will no longer return you to your normal form during the Prophet Tharon’ja encounter in Drak’tharon Keep. • Death Knight: Blade Barrier will no longer count Death Runes.• Death Knight: Shadow of Death will no longer cause the player to run back as a ghoul after releasing.• Death Knight: Lichborne and Fear Ward no longer share a cooldown.• Paladin: Sacred Shield will now properly gain benefit from the spell power granted by Sheath of Light.• Paladin: Fixed a bug where Judgements sometimes dealt no damage.• Paladin: Hammer of Wrath will no longer reset the paladin’s swing timer.• Paladin: Righteous Vengance will no longer break Repentance.• Mage: Focus Magic will now properly trigger from melee critical strikes.• Mage: Mage Armor will now properly decrease the duration of magical damage over time effects.• Warrior: Armored to the Teeth no longer considers Berserking in its armor calculation.• Warlock: Pandemic will no longer trigger Focus Magic.• Warlock: Corrected several typos with the Ritual of Summoning Spell.• Priest: Devouring Plague will no longer be spread by Pestilence.• Priest: The Surge of Light buff will no longer be consumed upon cast.• Priest: Fixed a bug where Guardian Spirit will sometimes fail to prevent a killing blow.• Hunter: Frost Trap now correctly triggers the 30 second cooldown on Lock and Load.• Hunter: Wyvern Sting’s sleep effect will no longer break from area of effect spells.• Achievements: Corrected the tooltip for “Gotta Go!”• Players will now appear properly mounted on the Amani War Bear.• The Alliance Vanguard reputation will now properly count towards total exalted factions.• Corrected many graphical bugs along the coast of Sholazar Basin.• When a guild is disbanded, gold will now also be mailed to the Guild Master.• The Thaddius encounter will no longer generate an extreme amount of latency.• Elixir of Water Walking will now properly gain a benefit from Mixology.• Bandit’s Insignia: Damage dealt will be properly increased by the target’s debuffs.• Ring of the Fated: Now properly grants potency rating.• Players will no longer fall through the well in Dalaran without getting teleported to the sewer.• The forge in K3 will now function properly.• Players who die during the Prophet Tharon’ja encounter will still receive credit for his death.• Fixed a typo for the Convention at the Legerdemain daily quest.• Fixed various bugs in Naxxramas that would cause player to fall through the world.• Multiple characters can now loot the Heart of Magic from Alexstrasza’s Gift (Malygos Encounter)• Players will no longer randomly get stuck in combat.

Saturday the 24th the Lunar festival will start up. It'll be active from Jan 24th to February 12th. There are several achievement points to be earned during those weeks for a total of 160-180 points.

The most notable of these achievements are the elders. This is indeed yet another achievement that takes you all over the world in search of specific locations. If you're planning to get these elder achievements anyway then it's probably not a bad idea to get the reading and squirrel achievement at the same time. (Presuming you didn't already have them)

The most up to date information on the Lunar Festival and the Elders can be found on the wowwiki page. It also lists the pictures and tables of locations for all but the WotLK locations. (They'll be added asap though) Strange enough Outland does not appear to house any elders.

This year there will be a total of 75 elders scattered around the world. Which means getting 50 coins shouldn't be too hard. Another thing to note is that "each" elder will give you 75 reputation. If you're still working on getting the diplomat achievement, this series will give you about 5625 reputation in total for each faction of your home cities. (6187 for dirty hummies)

The Elders

I've collected all the Pre-TBC locations some years ago before the blog was started. Since then the list has been expanded and improved upon by others. A big thanks to all who have contributed in the past, and those who will do so in the future.

The first 50 can be obtained from Kalimdor and Eastern Kindom. The next part is a fairly blatant copy from wowwiki. The original version was based on a list on the blizzard forums. Pictures coming also. Don't take the green dots as 100% accurate though.

Horde Coin Path

You should have your Hearthstone set to in Dalaran and use the portals outside the "filthy animal" to get to Orgrimmar. Be sure to pick up the "invitation" quest, you never know when a free HS to moonglade may come in handy.

1. Azshara - Far Southeast corner in Ravencrest Monument: [71, 85] Then fly to Everlook, or use the Goblin engineering teleport.2. Winterspring - In Everlook: [61, 37]3. Winterspring - Ruins of Kel'Theril, southwest of Everlook: [55, 43] Then fly to Bloodvenom Post4. Felwood - North of Jaedenar: [37, 53] Then fly to Emerald Sanctuary5. Ashenvale - West side Astranaar: [35, 48] [Elder Riversong]6. Darkshore - Just south of Auberdine: [36, 46] Next take the northern boat from the docks west of Auberdine to get to Darnassus7. Teldrassil - Darnassus, in Cenarion Enclave: [33, 14]8. Teldrassil - Southern end of Dolanaar: [57, 60] Hearth and take the portal to Orgrimmar, or use the invitation card to get to moonglade then fly to Orgrimmar.9. Orgrimmar - Valley of Wisdom: [40, 34]10. Durotar - Razor Hill: [53, 43]11. The Barrens - Ratchet, behind the bank: [62, 36] Then fly to Crossroads12. The Barrens - Crossroads: [51, 30] Then fly to Camp Taurajo13. The Barrens - Camp Taurajo: [45, 57]14. Mulgore - Northend of Bloodhoof Village: [48, 53]15. Thunder Bluff - Elder Rise: [72, 23] Then fly to Shadowprey Village16. Maraudon - Jump into the water by the Princess and Rotgrip. Swim to the east and head up the ramp. Turn right and head up a 2nd ramp. The Elder will be in front of you. Then fly to Camp Mojache17. Feralas - Lariss Pavilion, North East of Camp Mojache: [76, 37]18. Feralas - Dire Maul, in the arena outside the instance: [62, 31] Then fly to Freewind Post.19. Thousand Needles - Freewind Post: [45, 50]20. Thousand Needles - Shimmering Flats by Mirage Raceway: [79, 77]21. Tanaris - Gadgetzan: [51, 27]22. Zul'Farrak - In Ghazrilla's room by the gong.23. Tanaris- In Uldum, far south Tanaris: [36, 80]24. Un'Goro Crater - By Slithering Scar, above ground: [50, 76]25. Silithus - In Cenarion Hold: [48, 37]26. Silithus - Northwest in the Crystal Vale: [23, 11] Next, hearth to Dalaran or Shattrath City and take the portal to Undercity then fly to Light's Hope Chapel27. Eastern Plaguelands - By Light's Hope Chapel: [81, 60]28. Eastern Plaguelands - At Crown Guard Tower in the south: [39, 75]29. Stratholme - North of the Festival Lane mailbox. If you go in via the back door, make your first left in the instance, go through the archway, turn right, and the Elder will be standing just past the next turn on the left. If you do not have a key, you will need to clear a lot of the instance in order to reach the Elder, so it's best just to find someone who can let you in.30. Western Plaguelands - In the East, south of the Weeping Cave on the north side of the road: [65, 47]31. Western Plaguelands - Atop the Scholomance tower, outside the instance: [69, 72] (enter Scholomance castle, go right, up step, left, left again — not straight — right, up stairs, up stairs to room lit by torch, right — not up wheelchair ramp — up and up stairs, she's on rampart).32. Tirisfal Glades - Slightly south of the town of Brill: [61, 53] Enter Undercity again.33. Undercity - In the middle of Undercity, above ground: [66, 38] Next fly to The Sepulcher.34. Silverpine Forest - By The Sepulcher: [45, 41] Fly to Revantusk Village, Hinterlands35. The Hinterlands - In the middle of The Hinterlands by the Creeping Ruin: [50, 48] Fly to Hammerfall, run through Wetlands to Loch Modan, or Fly to Kargath and then run up into Loch Modan.36. Loch Modan - Thelsamar: [33, 46]37. Dun Morogh - Kharanos by the inn: [46, 51]38. Iron Forge - Mystic Ward. Next run all the way to Stormwind or run to Kargath, Fly to Grom'gol Base Camp and run north to Stormwind. Or you could simply take the Deeprun Tram inside Iron forge. This is the only really tricky part, as Ironforge is quite crowded.39. Stormwind City - Park [36, 66]40. Elwynn Forest - Goldshire, behind blacksmith: [39, 63]41. Westfall - Atop the Sentinel Hill tower: [56, 47]42. Stranglethorn Vale - Outside Zul'Gurub zone-in: [53, 18] Then fly from Grom'Gol Base Camp to Booty Bay.43. Stranglethorn Vale - Near the Horde Wind Rider Master in Booty Bay: [26, 76] And fly from Booty Bay to Stonard44. Sunken Temple - Swamp of Sorrows - Head left when you zone-in. Go up the set of stairs, kill the first set of dragon (you can stealth through them at level 60), and enter the main room with all the dragons. The Elder is in the northeast corner.45. Blasted Lands - Just North of the Dark Portal: [57, 54] Fly from Stonard to Flame Crest46. Burning Steppes - Flame Crest (that cave with the Libram guy): [64, 24]47. Burning Steppes - On Dreadmaul rock north of Morgan's Vigil: [82, 46] Fly from Flame Crest to Thorium Point48. Searing Gorge - Southwest corner in Blackchar Cave: [21, 79]49. Blackrock Spire - After a few pulls into LBRS, the Elder will be across the first wooden bridge.50. Blackrock Depths - In the middle of the Ring of Law.

After that, it's time for Northrend.Hearthstone and jump to the northrend part of the guide.

Alliance Coin Path

You should have your Hearthstone set to Dalaran, then use the portal in the south area to get to Ironforge.

These are fairly easily doable for any level 80 to solo. Even in instances like LBRS, you can just walk past most of the mobs. The only real challenge is the enemy racial cities where buffed guards and enemy faction players can make achieving your goal difficult. Nothing some stealth won't fix.

1. Ironforge - Mystic Ward. Fly gryphon to Thorium Point2. Searing Gorge - Southwest corner in Blackchar Cave: [21, 79]3. Blackrock Spire - After a few pulls into LBRS, the Elder will be across the first wooden bridge.4. Blackrock Depths - In the middle of the Ring of Law.5. Burning Steppes - Flame Crest (that cave with the Libram guy): [64, 24]6. Burning Steppes - On top of Dreadmaul Rock north of Morgan's Vigil: [82, 46]7. Stormwind - The Park [36, 66]8. Elwynn Forest - In Goldshire, behind blacksmith: [39, 63]9. Westfall - Atop the Sentinel Hill tower: [56, 47] Fly gryphon to Nethergarde Keep (via Sentinel Hill)10. Blasted Lands - Just North of the Dark Portal: [57, 54]11. Sunken Temple, Swamp of Sorrows - Head left when you zone-in. Go up the set of stairs, kill the first set of dragon, and enter the main room with all the dragons. The Elder is in the Northeast alcove. Then fly (via Nethergarde) or ride to the Rebel Camp12. Stranglethorn Vale - Outside Zul'Gurub zone-in: [53, 18]13. Stranglethorn Vale - Above the bank in Booty Bay: [26, 76] Then take the boat to Ratchet because this continent is more horde friendly you will basically follow this route on your mount rather than searching out flight points.14. The Barrens - In Ratchet, behind the bank: [62, 36]15. Orgrimmar - Valley of Wisdom: [40, 34] (Luckily for you, Orgrimmar is the largest Horde city, and just like Ironforge, the most crowded places are the bank, the mailbox, and the Auction House. Orgrimmar has two entrances. One in the south and one in the west. You will want to enter trough the western entrance since this is the entrance with the least players, however, you still have to outrun guards!)16. Durotar - Razor Hill: [53, 43]17. The Barrens - Crossroads: [51, 30]18. The Barrens - Camp Taurajo: [45, 57]19. Mulgore - North end of Bloodhoof Village by bridge: [48, 53]20. Thunderbluff - Elder Rise: [72, 23] (Unlike Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff is not a very big city, therefore, you are much more likely to meet enemy players. However, Thunderbluff is just as popular a city as Darnassus is, and so you have a great chance of not being outnumbered. At least not by anything more than level 15 tauren druids. Enter by the north lift, and go east towards the elder rise.)21. Thousand Needles - In Freewind Post: [45, 50]22. Thousand Needles - In Shimmering Flats by Mirage Raceway: [79, 77]23. Tanaris - In Gadgetzan: [51, 27]24. Zul'Farrak - In Gahz'rilla's room by the gong.25. Tanaris - Outside Uldum, far south Tanaris: [36, 80]26. Un'goro Crater - By Slithering Scar, above ground: [50, 76]27. Silithus - Northwest in the Crystal Vale: [23, 11]28. Silithus - In Cenarion Hold: [50, 36] Hearth back to Dalaran and take the portal to Ironforge29. Dun Morogh - In Kharanos by the inn: [46, 51]30. Loch Modan - In Thelsamar: [33, 46] And then fly to Aerie Peak31. Hinterlands - In the middle of Hinterlands by the Creeping Ruin: [49, 48]32. Western Plaguelands - Elder Moonstrike is atop the Scholomance tower, outside the instance: [69, 74]33. Western Plaguelands - In the Northeast, south of the Weeping Cave: [65, 47]34. Eastern Plaguelands - At Crown Guard Tower in the south: [39, 75]35. Eastern Plaguelands - By Light's Hope Chapel: [81, 60]36. Stratholme - North of the Festival Lane mailbox. Enter through the back door. Make your first left in the instance, go through the gate, turn right, and the Elder will be standing at the back.37. Tirisfal Glades - Slightly south of the town of Brill: [61, 53]38. Silverpine Forest - By The Sepulcher: [45, 41]39. Undercity - In the middle of Undercity, above ground: [66, 38] While in Undercity, use the [Lunar Festival Invitation] to port to Moonglade then fly to Everlook in Winterspring.40. Winterspring - In Everlook: [61, 37]41. Winterspring - Ruins of Kel'Theril, southwest of Everlook: [55, 43] Fly to Emerald Sanctuary42. Felwood - North of Jaedenar: [37, 53] Fly to Azshara43. Azshara - Far Southeast corner in Ravencrest Monument, right between the statue's feet: [72, 85] Hearth back to Shattrath and take the portal to Darnassus.44. Darnassus, in Cenarion Enclave: [33, 14]45. Teldrassil - Southern end of Dolanaar: [57, 60]46. Darkshore, Auberdine - East of the Hippogryph Master: [35, 48]47. Ashenvale, Astranaar - in the gazebo near the hippogryph: [35, 49] Fly to Nijel's Point48. Maraudon - Jump into the water by the Princess and Rotgrip. Swim to the east and head up the ramp. Turn right and head up a 2nd ramp. The Elder will be in front of you.49. Feralas - Dire Maul, in the Arena in the center of the Broken Commons, outside the instance: [62, 31]50. Feralas - Lariss Pavilion, North East of Camp Mojache: [76, 37]

Northrend

The coordinates are not entirely certain at the time of writing this (but will be updated soon). There are 25 elders spread about in Northrend. None in Outland surprisingly. 18 outside dungeons. 7 inside dungeons.

All dungeons with the exception of Gundrak, Utgarde Keep and Azjol-Nerub are soloable as a rogue or druid. For these you can always ask someone to invite you to a cleared Heroic instance and just run to the elder.

Fan of Knives: The cooldown has been removed. In addition, now deals 150% of weapon damage when used while daggers are equipped.

Feint: Rank 8 now reduces the damage taken from area of effect attacks by 50% for 6 seconds in addition to its existing effects.

And finally, lots of bug fixes and more profession changes.

Poll end

What professions on your main?Seems we forgot to add Jewelcrafting... Oh well.

Mining 63 (37%)

Enchanting 40 (23%)

Leatherworking 36 (21%)

Engineering 34 (20%)

Herbalism 33 (19%)

Skinning 30 (17%)

Tailoring 28 (16%)

Alchemy 27 (16%)

Blacksmithing 22 (13%)

Inscription 14 (8%)

Odd how mining is so popular. Enchanting and Leatherworking are high on the list as expected though.

New poll: What do you think about wintergrasp?

We've been compiling some data, which in hindsight could mostly be found on the EJ forums as well.. but in retrospective most things can be found there sooner or later right? The only problem with that, is that you'd need some background information before being able to understand half the stuff there.

So, a small compilation never hurt anyone I guess.

Tricks of the trade

You will want to cast this spell as much as you can during raids, thus it's a good thing to set a focus target to your main tank, and simply be able to press a single button. Easy, efficient.

#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade/cast [target=focus, exists] Tricks of the Trade; Tricks of the trade

This will show the Tricks of the Trade tooltip on your macro button, and cast tricks of the trade on your focus target, or if that target is not valid, cast it anyway.

Stat choices

I bE 1337 rougle lolol 700 hit rating keke?

No. No. No. don't even go there.

Hit rating isn't the all powerful stat that it was in TBC, it's quite weak even. The main reason it was "good" was because it worked with Windfury totem and Swordspec. The totem is now a flat haste, and swordspec has been fixed. It's still relatively nice for getting more combat potency procs, but even that is a very tiny contribution to your dps when you look at it more closely.

So, what stat should you be going for then?The guys (and girls) over at the EJ forums have listed some Equivalence points for combat and mutilate.

Agi : 2.0

AP : 1.0 (2 AP = 1 Agi in terms of gear cost, and gems. So basically it's the same as Agi)

Exp : 1.6

Crit : 1.5

Haste : 1.4

ArPen : 1.2

Str : 1.1 - Expensive stat, avoid it.

Hit is ~1.8 while you are below the yellow hit cap(~99 which is patheticallly easy to reach), 1.6 below the poison hit cap(315), and 1.4 thereafter.

For mutilate stats you can look here. The values aren't all that much different though.

Get your hit rating to 315 or 237 if you have a SP/moonkin in the raid, after that gem for Agi and AP. Expertise is valuable but ridiculously easy to get. It's literally everywhere due to the new itemisation method blizzard is using, and thus druid tanks share our gear pool.

Bosses are presumed to have 6.5% dodge, which means you need 26 expertise, or 214 expertise rating.If you have Weapon expertise 2/2 you need 16 expertise, or 132 expertise rating.If you're a human(or dwarf) wielding a sword(or mace) then you only need 13 = 107 rating

If you are a Jewelcrafter, use the 27 agi one. Preferably in blue sockets.

If you can simply flood all sockets with red gems, go for it. Sometimes the activation bonus is rather small and pathetic compared to using a blue gem, and losing half the gem's worth to something like stamina.

Enchants

These are the best enchant choices available to a raiding rogue.

Weapons: Berserking. This one will be made a bit less dramatic in 3.0.8 -5% reduced armor instead of a whooping 25%

If you're a Leatherworker, tailor, Scribe or enchanter then you could get some profession specific enchants. Don't bother with the engineering ones, they suck. The tailor enchant is very borderline useful as well, weak compared to what the other professions can give you.

How useful DP is, will depend on your attack speed for IP/WP, hit rating, expertise, and whether you can keep the DP stack at 5 or not.

What and when to use it

It basically comes down this:

Without sword spec (fist/mace MH and dagger/fist/mace OH):

OH speed = 1.4: DP/WP : For example 2.6 MH, 1.4 OH

OH speed > 1.4: WP/DP : For example 2.5 MH, 1.6 OH

With sword spec (either MH or OH sword or both):

OH speed = 1.4: WP/WP

OH speed > 1.4: WP/DP

Instant poison is still useful, but only if you are specced deep into mutilate.

Speccing for win

What should you be speccing like?A few things are down to your personal taste, but there's only two real ways to spec for raiding. As of 3.0.8 the "bug" for Honor among Thieves will be fixed, and it should no longer be viable competition for the other specs. Blizzard has stated they want all three trees to be competitive so there may be more changes in the future.

DPS wise, the mutilate spec will output higher DPS than the combat builds on their own. The raid buff from mutilate is also given by Retribution Paladins, while the raidbuff from combat is also given by Arms warriors. Arms warriors however, are few nowadays since Fury simply beats them off the charts. Hence the combat specs are fairly competitive with mutilate. You only need a single combat rogue in your raid however, any additional rogues should spec mutilate.

And wanting more. 42 books to find (Knowledge is the meaning of life?) in various places around the world.

You could, of course go and find each book individually. But that wouldn't be very efficient use of your time. Most books have multiple (2-3) spawn points so as alliance or horde you may have to enter some houses controlled by the other faction and risk getting killed.

I've marked the books on this list with all currently known spawn locations, some are only available in dungeons, conveniently marked with a (d). While some spawn in either Alliance (a) or Horde (h) territory.

You won't want to go and grab those books from A-Z, so based on that list, you would be able to visit the book "hotspots" and get most of them done pretty quickly. There's only one that may be tricky to get, as it's in a raid dungeon, or alliance territory.

Dalaran

Let's start in Dalaran, find the one book there then take a portal to orgrimmar and head into durotar.

There's also three books at the Gadget Inn but these are duplicates of others you'll get later. So skip those. The book you need can be found inside the caverns of time at the east side of the zone. The book is inside the first door to your right nead a NPC called Alexton Chrom. After tanaris you'll need to fly to Ratchet.

To westfall, ignore the npcs and guards as much as possible and grab the book that is located in the inn. It's the building with the mailbox in the front. Head back to Grom'gol and take the zeppelin to Undercity.

Northeast out of Undercity you'll find Scarlet Monastery. An interesting thing to note, is that you can read books while in stealth and remain in stealth.

Head into the library (portal without a door on the right) then head past the couryard and on to the right. You'll find a red carpeted hall with some alcoves. This is the Gallery of treasures where you'll find the first book next to two scarlet diviners and a monk. And the next one in the alcove after that.

Once you got the books here head for scholomance and you'll be nearly done.

Scholomance

The last few, you're almost there.Mind that I'm specifically going back here for your benefit and to make finding these books easier for you! I'm sure you'd have a hard time finding them otherwise. If you're not a stealth class, this should still be piss at level 80. But just in case you can always bring a friend along.

Straight forward then trough the door and down the stairs you'll find a table.

The higher learning achievement awards you with the way to teleport up to the violet citadel spires. There's a guy there who will give you this cool pet elemental to summon. Be warned though, this achievement may look easy (only 8 books), but it is not for the faint of heart.

The books are a direct reference to magic used in the lands of Baldur's gate, Never Winter Nights etc. Also known as the Forgotten Realms.

Known facts

Or rather, tested speculations which proved to be fairly accurate.

The books spawn at fixed locations.

Once spawned the book stays until read.

Once someone opens the books, it will last for 3 minutes.

Anyone can read the book during those 3 minutes.

Once the book despawns, it will take anywhere between 3 - 4 hours (yep) to spawn a new book in it's place.

The spawn points of the books you need are shared with some random "junk" books, so a respawn of "a" book in the desired location may result in having to read a junk book, then come back 3 hours later.

You will waste many, many hours if you seriously intend to get this achievement. Be sure you have something useful to do on a separate monitor or splitscreen. Such as blogging :)

Team up with some friends and you'll cut down the "waiting" time considerably.

Channels

If you're actively farming for this achievement it's recommended to team up with other players, or create a public channel where you can share locations. Some common channels used for this goal are:* Bookclub / Book club* Mastery* Higherlearning / Higher Learning

Simply type "/join bookclub" to join such a channel. Be sure to set the channel color to something that's very noticeable or you may miss it when there's a book spotted! Since the books have a 3-4 hour spawn time, you should be able to get frequent updates on real or dud books with more players using the channel.

This friday they came knockin' at my door. Joy and glee, I didn't even set the christmas tree.Three whole boxes, not a single one more.

I can show you a few Jpgs, but they really don't do justice to what I'm looking at right now. 2048x1152 Wide screen, insetad of 800x600. All video settings to high, instead of the lowest possible.It's a world of difference really.

The only annoying part however, was that this thing doesn't have any PS/2 ports. So I'm sort of stuck with the default, flat, ugly dell keyboard on which the keys are all in the wrong place... I'll order a G11 or G15 later. along with some new headphones on which I've still been slacking. I tell you, it's hard to find good ones that don't cost 140 euros...

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